PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION TO HELP BRING CHANGE TO AIRLINES

Airlines are scamming people. They allow us to book flights & we show up for our flights ready to arrive at our destination, then make us endure lengthy delays to ultimately cancel our flights. They advertise that they provide a service (flights) and withhold that service by cancelling flights with no explanation and either keep the money we (the consumers) spent to receive a service they never provided or lowball us with insufficient vouchers. When it’s time to issue a refund or rectify a situation it’s a lengthy process of jumping through hoops and waiting for a response, that in the end often doesn’t make you whole again.

The key piece that holds an entire vacation together is the transportation to the destination. Without transportation to our destinations we miss out on our hotel reservations, the events we had tickets to, and the ability to go on vacation. The Airlines need to be held accountable for what they are doing to their consumers. They need to return the money to people whose flights got cancelled. They should pay restitution to their consumers who missed out on events, opportunities, and vacations and for the hardships we endured.

Yesterday I was supposed to be on a flight scheduled thru United Airlines out of Newark Airport (NJ) to Las Vegas (NV) at 1:30pm. The flight got delayed until 2:45pm, we boarded the plane shortly after 3pm and drove around the tarmac. The pilot announced that there was an issue with weather disrupting our flight path & they were obtaining clearance for an alternate route. After just under 3 hours of driving around the tarmac, the pilot announced we were going back to the gate to be let off the plane so they could refuel to accommodate for the new flight plan. We waited in the terminal for another 6 hours while the airport employees periodically (every ~35 minutes) got on the loud speaker to further delay our flight. At 9pm the flight was cancelled. Everyone was trying to figure out the next step to take when the employee again got on the loud speaker and announced that another flight (scheduled for 8:47pm) to Las Vegas was boarding at the next gate over even though we had been waiting in the airport for 9+ hours to go to the same destination and our flight got cancelled. So, the issue clearly isn’t a weather issue.

The passengers from my (cancelled) flight to Las Vegas were then directed to the United Airlines customer service desk to obtain further instruction/information. I waited in line with hundreds of people from my flight & multiple other flights who were dealing with similar issues. We shared our stories with each other while waiting in line. One man standing nearby told me that he and the other passengers on his flight were aboard their plane for 4 hours before they deboarded and had their flight cancelled. Another lady had a daughter who was getting married and her connecting flight got cancelled so she had no way to get to the wedding. A handful of people all from different flights, boarded their flight, sat inside a hot crowded plane on the runway for hours, just to be returned to the airport with the flight delayed for hours again and later cancelled. Dozens of people shared their stories with me. Flights going in all directions had numerous lengthy delays that ultimately resulted in cancellations.

The attendant got on the loudspeaker again to make an announcement regarding luggage: “if your flight was cancelled and you checked a bag, your luggage will arrive at your destination”. How is it that my luggage was able to make it to my destination but I couldn’t? I finally reach the front of the line to speak with a customer service representative who couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why the flight was cancelled, she couldn’t tell me where my luggage was or when I would get it back, and she couldn’t refund my money or offer me any sort of compensation. The customer service representative instructed me to go on the company’s website and file a complaint via “United.com/feedback”. She took my address and told me my luggage would be mailed to me in 24 hours, which can’t possibly be true because it’s been 2 days since this happened and my luggage is still no where to be found. My fiancé and I drove home disappointed, upset, angry, and with no solution. As soon as I got home I got on the phone to begin the process of filing a complaint. 

In order to file a complaint with United Airlines there are two avenues you can take: call a phone number (800-864-8331) where you can wait on hold for hours to be connected to a call center filled with employees who don’t have the authority or means to help other than to direct you to a complaint form on their website, or you can skip waiting on hold for hours and go directly to the website yourself and follow the links to end up at the same web address the customer service representative & call center employees direct you to (united.com/feedback). This is the ONLY way to file your complaint. The complaint form only allows for 1000 characters and 3 attachments, and the page will “time out” after 20 minutes forcing you to refresh, lose your progress, and start over again. Instead of enjoying my vacation I’m putting all my time and energy into trying to get back the money I paid for services I never received at no fault of my own.

Everyone I spoke to regarding this ordeal directed me to this website and assured me I would receive a response in 7-14 business days. I highly doubt that, but with all the technology available today this is unacceptable. The fact that all avenues I took to get some sort of restitution for this catastrophe led to the same dead end is deplorable. How is it possible that United Airlines has thousands of employees who stand behind desks and answer phones with no information or authority to handle issues that arise?

We deserve to be heard, and if we come together and share our stories we just might get somewhere. We shouldn’t allow those high up at the Airlines to make money off our misfortunes and remain unreachable. The CEO’s and decision-makers of these company’s hide behind thousands of customer service representatives who don’t know whats going on, or won’t tell us what’s going on, and can’t do anything about it anyways. Together we CAN reach the top and hopefully recoup some of our losses, and maybe we can even change the system for the better, because there has to be a better way for the Airlines to handle these situations. Together we can initiate the changes that can prevent this from happening to ourselves and others in the future & restore our faith in the transportation industry.

if you have a story you want to share please email me at UnitedAirlinesClassAction@gmail.com

***I do not work for United Airlines, or any airline. I am in no way affiliated with United Airlines, and I am not a lawyer or any sort of legal representative. I’m just an upset customer trying to bring people together in effort to make a change in the airline industry & help make things right for others like me.